A/N: I promised that the next chapter would be connected to Encounter, the story on the previous chapter, but then after I watched Thor: The Dark World last Saturday I had this sudden urge to just write this. My attention span is so short. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this!
Warnings:This is not connected with Encounter! Also if you haven't watched Thor: The Dark World then don't read this yet! This will contain spoilers. There is no slash in this story. And this isn't beta'd.
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"Any questions?"
Dr. Eric Selvig stared at the other occupants of the room as he held a shoe on each hand. The equations, graphs, and figures he had spent an hour explaining and drawing were displayed on the chalkboard behind him. For him the knowledge that he had babbled for the last hour or so was priceless! No astrophysicist had ever proved this theory. Well except him. Eric's grin widened as he saw a hand rose up in the air, the limb was attached to an old man who was sitting on the chair, the old man was also wearing one shoe. Oh this was exciting! Someone wanted to know more about the convergence!
"Uh... yeah. Could I have my shoe back?" The old man who had raised his hand asked in a bored tone as he looked at Eric with bored eyes. Upon hearing the question, Eric's enthusiasm depleted as he nodded and then gave back the old man's shoe.
"Here you go." Eric said with a defeated air around him as started erasing the graphs, equations, and figures he had drawn on the chalkboard. Eric sighed and then glanced at his audience again. Who was he kidding? No one listened to his brilliant lecture, anyway. Majority of his audience were old and they were either playing checkers with their companion or snoring loudly. Eric's brow ticked. Even the youngsters in the room didn't even bat an eyelash or listened to his lecture. They were all busy watching the talk show currently being aired in TV. Really, youngsters these day. They didn't know how to sort out their priorities.
"Do you need help with erasing the board?" A soft voice asked as he felt another person standing beside him.
Eric looked at the person who stood beside him. The man had short wavy locks, a pale complexion, high cheekbones, dark green eyes, and a straight nose. There were no wrinkles, liver spots, and acne decorating the man's face. Eric guessed the man was in his early twenties. He looked at the man's eyes to judge the all, he was stuck in a room full of lunatics. "Yes, and you are?"
The young man smiled at him; and then offered a hand towards Eric. "Potter. My name is Harry Potter, your lecture about convergence was really amazing."
Eric beamed at the compliment and then shook Harry's hand. Finally, Someone who had appreciated his work other than Jane and S.H.I.E.L.D.! "Well I'm Dr. Eric Selvig. I'm delighted that you find my lecture very interesting. I think you are the only one who had expressed his interest towards my work!" Eric said as he vigorously shook Harry's hand and tightened his grip in Harry's hand.
Harry winced at the old man's sudden display of strength. "Ah yes..." Harry said as he put his other free hand on the man's shoulder, calming Eric. The grip on his hand loosened and Harry carefully wriggled his hand hand away from Dr. Selvig's grasp.
Eric looked at Harry's hand and then realized what he had done. "Oh! I'm sorry, I didn't know that exerted too much force. Come, come." Eric said as he dragged two wooden chairs and offered Harry a seat.
Harry politely accepted the offer and sat down on the chair. "You know, I've heard about you before you were confined in this..." Harry trailed off as he rotated his right hand, trying to find the right word. They were both confined in a mental institute, and Harry wasn't so sure if the man was sensitive about being confined to a mental institute. Harry knew from past experience that some of the mentals that had been confined inside mental institute, didn't like talking about being confined inside a mental institute.
"I believe that you are avoiding those two words." Eric said after he waited for Harry to pick the 'right words'. "How about the term 'rehabilitation center'? (1) Sounds better, right?"
Harry beamed at Eric's answer. "Yes! Rehabilitation center sounds better." Harry said. Really, he was bad at choosing the right words to say, it was one of the reasons in his 101 reasons why he shouldn't be a Minister Magic of Britain. "Anyway, I first heard about you when the attack on New York happened. And no offense meant to what I'm about to say -but I was excited when I heard that you were going to be confined here. I am amazed on impact of your work to the society!" Harry said as he bounced on his seat. His green eyes sparked with mirth that Eric reminded of a certain someone he didn't want to encounter again. But Eric dismissed that certain person away from his mind as he regarded Harry's enthusiasm, the enthusiasm was genuine. And knowing that, Eric began to feel giddy, too.
"Thank you." Eric said a wide grin appeared on his.
"No, thank you if it hadn't been for you and your works our planet would have been controlled by those alien creeps!"
Eric was flattered.
"My works didn't help much, really. It was the Avengers whom you should be thanking for saving the world."
"You think too little of your works, Doctor Selvig! Give yourself some credit, you might be the first human to had figured out this thing!"
Eric's grin widened, Harry was right. "Thank you but enough about me. You listened to my lecture earlier before right?"
Harry nodded his head. "Yes... but I... hahaha... couldn't understand half of the things you had said, doctor Selvig." Harry looked sheepish as he stared down on the floor and then the next second he was standing on his feet and the grin was back on his face. "But you summarized your lecture at the end of the discussion. It was astounding, I thought that those things could only happen in movies but when you explained it I think it is also possible."
Eric felt his heart flutter. "Then I believe that you have some question?"
"Yes... You mentioned about the nine worlds and the Yggdrasil, right?"
"Yes..."
"Well then I was just thinking... could there be more than nine worlds? Could there be more than one Yggdrasil?"
Eric stared at him and then looked up as he tapped his chin with his finger, a thoughtful expression adorned his face. Could such a thing exist? "Maybe..." Eric said thoughtfully. "I've never thought about it but maybe. But if you think about it... Yggdrasil is a tree... and before a tree becomes a tree then it is a seed at the start. And if there is a seed of Yggdrasil then it must have a mother tree." Eric paused as the gears inside his head started rotating faster. "And that mother tree must have a mother tree and so on... that means..."
"There could be a forest of Yggdrasil!" Harry exclaimed and everyone in the room (excluding Selvig) looked at him disapprovingly. Harry looked at them shyly and then whispered in a soft voice. "And there could be an alternate dimension."
Eric paused. An alternate dimension, eh? If such a thing exist then maybe... just maybe... somewhere in another Midgard of another Yggradasil, maybe he was married to a beautiful woman, living with two beautiful children, and a noble prize winner. "That... is a fantastic theory, Mr. Potter!" Eric said as he jumped up from his seat. The other occupants of the room (excluding Harry) looked at him in disdain but he didn't pay attention to them. He was used to that kind of treatment. "If we had these theory backed up with science then this argument could be even strengthened."
Harry looked at him hopefully. "You... you really think so?"
"Think? Hahaha! I know so, Mr. Potter!" Eric cackled. "Once the convergence had happened I will work on this theory."
Harry's smile widened (if that was even possible). "Thank you!" Harry said as he hugged Eric. "And please call me Harry!"
Eric returned Harry's hug. "And please call me Eric! Nice to meet you Harry"
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A/N: End of Mentals part I. The second part of Encounter is half done, I'm still thinking of snarky remarks... hmmm... *starts typing*
(1) I think in the movie Dr. Selvig was confined in a 'home for the elderly' but let's ignore that.
Review please! :)